Womens Football - Anna Moz Week 1 Results

A couple of weeks back I introduced budding female footballer Anna Morrow and followed up with a little case study of her training not long after that.

Her footy training training with the Darebin Falcons started this week so we last week and this week, we have an exclusive focus on sprinting speed while competition for recovery is low.

By the end of this 2 week phase she'll have performed 6 speed sessions, 4 lower body strength sessions along with her 2 team training sessions and 4 - 5 upper body gym and recovery type sessions.

Her sessions have looked like:

 - Be Activated Zone 1 Treatment by yours truly
 - Glute circuit
 - Dynamic flexibility drills
 - Sprinting mechanics drills
 - some 4 point acceleration starts over 5 - 10m

Then she's into the main session which is consisting of various 20m sprints from various starting positions paired with resisted sprints in which we use my beloved sprint sled for.

The video isn't super clear but we have markers at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20m and we time each interval split for each sprint set we do.

HINT - you CANNOT assess, and thus improve, without data!

After most of the sprint sessions we head to the gym and do some low volume/high intensity lower body strength work.

We are currently 4 sessions into 6 session plan before we re-test in the 7th session early next week and she has improved in each session so far.

Here are her week 1 stats that has her pre-program times followed by her personal best week 1 times.

4 Point (Sprinter) Start

5m x 1.50secs / 1.31secs = .19sec / 13% improvement

10m x 2.58secs / 2.25secs = .23sec / 14% improvement

15m x 3.30secs / 3.00secs = .30secs / 10% improvement

20m x 4.11secs / 3.66secs = .45secs / 11% improvement

2 Point (Standing) Start

5m x 1.50secs / 1.29secs = .21sec / 14% improvement

10m x 2.81secs / 2.81secs

15m x 3.30secs / 2.84secs = .46sec / 4% improvement

20m x 4.04secs / 3.55secs = .49sec / 12% improvement

Flying Sprints

5m x .78secs / .63secs = .15sec / 19% improvement

10m x 1.89secs / 1.28secs = .61secs / 32% improvement

15m x 2.24secs / 2.06secs = .18sec / 8% improvement

20m x 3.09secs / 2.80secs = .29secs / 10% improvement

A lot of these improvements in times are unbelievable in such a short span of time and we hope to improve them even further when we re-test next week.

As a little side note, she came 5th in the 2km time trial at training last night putting her in the top 20 at least, once the 15 AFLW girls come back after their season with minimal endurance training (she has some stomach surgery just before Xmas). Our goal is hopefully we can bring her from Div 3 Women's last year to Div 1 Senior Women's this year and then who knows!

Do you want speed gains like this? Fill in this application form and I'll be in touch very soon?

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Local Footy Training Gems from AFL/TAC S&C Coaches Burgo and Matty Part 3/9

Part 1 can be found here.

Part 2 can be found here.

AT THE AFL/TAC LEVEL, HOW MUCH TIME IS SPENT ON CAPACITY AND POWER FOR AEROBIC, LACTIC AND ALACTIC ENERGY SYSTEMS AND IS IT PLAYER DEPENDENT?

BURGO - It is very much player and position dependent. I tend to train players based on their specific match requirements rather then specifically developing any one particular energy system.

MATTY - We will spend time training all the energy systems at every session, but the focus just shifts as we progress through the pre-season.

We have benchmarks based on historical data and data derived from players at each position which they are given pre-Xmas.

When they come back, those who have hit or surpassed those targets shift get to shift their focus to more anaerobic development while those who aren't up to standard spend more time on aerobic work.

I think it's important to reward those who do the work and once you separate them and one group is doing aerobic hell, while the others are running fast and having more rest, it's a pretty powerful incentive.

MY SUMMARY

- The more elite levels of football you get to, and potentially technology (GPS units etc), the less specific you need to train in regards to energy systems and the more you can focus on for each player.

- At the L/A level, and with players dedicating only 6 - 9 months to footy rather then 10 - 12, I still think that most players will benefit from specific energy systems development. We have data available for specific energy systems work (time trials, resting heart rates, sprint times etc) and thus we can program and see progress on them.

- When planning your focus of any training, but energy systems training in particular, you need to know the hierarchy of energy systems training meaning the order of how things need to be trained for optimal benefit. 1 thing I will tell you right now that if you're going straight into skill work under fatigue then you're on the wrong track!

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The Most Important Cycle for Female Footballers is Not a Training Cycle

Firstly, I am pumped about the Collingwood/Western Bulldogs practice game tonight so if you're not doing much then head down there.

You've got Katie Brennan, she of the unbelievable follow kicking follow through action versus Moana Hope who's life story is a Channel 9 movie in the making.

It kicks off at 6:30 at the Collingwood Football Club base Olympic Oval tonight (Thursday).

OK, onto this blog.

Hopefully by now I've made you aware of some of the extra challenges women have over men in regards to how their body's work in relation to peak performance.

One of the main reasons for this is their menstrual cycle.

I am by no means an expert on this but I have had a file on training females that I add to every now and then with training stuff I come across for years now - and now I can finally use it all!

So below is a little checklist of what to train and how to train at various parts of the 28 cycle. I assume every female handles this time of the month differently, mentally and physically, but there are certain things you should and should not do to decrease the risk of injury.

PHASE 1A	Follicular Phase
DURATION	Days 1 to 5
WHAT HAPPENS	High Estrogen, Bleeding
GOOD STUFF	Body Uses Fat as its Main Fuel Source
NOT SO GOOD STUFF	Increased RPE / Fatigue / Joint Laxity /  Lower Back Pain = Increased Injury  Risk
RECOMMENDATIONS	You’ll need to go low volume and low  intensity so use as a deload training  week and perform your cardio at  60 – 70% to take advantage of fat  being used as you’re primary fuel  source.

PHASE 1B	Follicular Phase
DURATION	Days 6 to 13
WHAT HAPPENS	High Estrogen
GOOD STUFF	Increased Mental Focus
NOT SO GOOD STUFF	Might be some Residual Effects from  week one in regards to Injury Risk
RECOMMENDATIONS	You should be able to ramp up your  training volume and intensity from  here and with the increase in mental  focus new exercises should be  introduced here as well. Plyometrics  can also be re-introduced but start with low level variations and work into them.

PHASE 1C	Follicular Phase
DURATION	Days 14 to 15
WHAT HAPPENS	High Estrogen, Testosterone Peaks
GOOD STUFF	Everything!
NOT SO GOOD STUFF	Hopefully Nothing!
RECOMMENDATIONS	Your training cycles should all be  geared towards this phase as this is  the time to be setting personal bests  in max effort lifting and/or testing.  You would continue to introduce  new exercise and gradually ramp  up plyometrics intensity.

PHASE 2A	Follicular / Ovulation Phase
DURATION	Day 16
WHAT HAPPENS	Moderate Estrogen, Increasing  Progesterone
GOOD STUFF	Increased Mental Focus
NOT SO GOOD STUFF	Increased Joint Laxity,  Decreased Strength,  Altered Jumping Mechanics
RECOMMENDATIONS	Things can start to go a bit pear  shaped here so you can possible  continue with what you were doing  training wise but be very aware of  any mental and physical changes  and alter your training accordingly.

PHASE 2B	Ovulation / Luteal Phase
DURATION	Day 17
WHAT HAPPENS	Progesterone Increases
GOOD STUFF	Increased Mental Focus
NOT SO GOOD STUFF	Increased Joint Laxity,  Decreased Strength,  Altered Jumping Mechanics
RECOMMENDATIONS	Be very aware of any mental and  physical changes and alter your  training accordingly.

PHASE 3A	Luteal Phase
DURATION	Day 18 – 21
WHAT HAPPENS	High Progesterone
GOOD STUFF	Increased Mental Focus
NOT SO GOOD STUFF	Possibly some Residual Effects  from Phases 2A/2B
RECOMMENDATIONS	Be very aware of any mental and  physical changes and alter your  training accordingly and you can  again learn new exercises and  maintain plyometrics.

PHASE 3B	Luteal Phase
DURATION	Day 22 – 28
WHAT HAPPENS	High Progesterone, Water Wt Gain
GOOD STUFF	Decreased Mental Focus, Body Uses  Fat as Primary Fuel Source
NOT SO GOOD STUFF	Decreased Reaction Time / Dexterity / Agility + Increases RPE / Fatigue / Joint Laxity = Increased Injury Risk
RECOMMENDATIONS	More of the “not so good stuff’ starts  to come back again so you’ll need to  alter your training and start decreasing  volume and intensity either immediately  or gradually leading to a training deload  week. Fat is the body’s primary fuel  source so it’s time to hit the 60 – 70%  exercise intensity again to take  advantage of that.

If you have any questions on this then please let me know!

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Local Footy Training Gems from AFL/TAC S&C Coaches Burgo and Matty Part 2/9

Part 1 looked at the requirements of footy depending on the standard of footy you play. This week we look at what to train and when over the off and pre-season training periods.

FROM A LOCAL/AMATEUR FOOTY TEAM VIEW POINT, WHAT WOULD YOU FOCUS ON THROUGH THE PRE-XMAS, POST X-MAS AND PRE-COMPETITION TRAINING BLOCKS?

BURGO - Repeat speed work is crucial for all AFL players at all levels.

I'd just start with longer sprints and shorter recovery in order to keep speed down and to stress the aerobic system, then progress to shorter distances with more recovery to promote more velocity work

WOULD YOU USE A PERFORMANCE DROP OFF FOR THE SPRINTS WHETHER IT BE SPEED OR DISTANCE COVERED IN A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME?

BURGO - Yep I quite like the YoYoIR2 test for this - pretty short rest and definitely a repeat speed protocol. 

NOTE - I'll blog about the YoYoIR2 test later this week.

MATTY - I'm not conviced that at L/A level you need to be doing a lot of specific training pre-Xmas. 

You can adequately prepare for a season in 3 months from January to March, even at TAC level. At a L/A level the recruiting process is outrageous so I can see why clubs would start early, to solidify their list and attract new players.

Also, no doubt there will be a percentage of guys who are happy to forget about footy and sink piss all summer so keeping them involved in the footy landscape can be advantageous.

So both from a retention perspective and making the club more attractive to recruits, I would get a way from the footy oval a fair bit and have a mix of the stuff they need to do, with the stuff they need to do.

I would want them doing basic speed development work, strength work and injury prevention but that's a boring session so I would sprinkle that into a session containing cross-training (golf course/beach/trail runs, boxing/strength circuits etc) and some small sided games work.

Before braking for Xmas perform some type of fitness test (6min run, YoYo test etc) and maybe a Pull Ups test and give them something to follow over the break to maintain these.

Post-Xmas you are going to need to run so however you dress it up is up to you but I would try and do less structured running then you'd see at TAC/VFL/AFL level and try and hide it within other stuff. 

I also don't think you can get away with all small sided games work but some of that combined with some off-ball running is a good compromise and you can manipulate the grid dimensions, team size and rules to suit what you're trying to develop. 

After re-testing the same battery of test you did pre-Xmas, those who have hit or surpassed their targets get to shift their focus to more anaerobic development while those who aren't up to standard spend more time on aerobic work.

WHAT DO THEY DO EXACTLY?

MATTY - We generally use the beep test at TAC level, not because it's a great test, but because there is a great deal of data on it and that;s what they'll be tested on at the Combine so we fall in line.

If our outside mid-fielder comes back and beeps 15.05, we could spend the next 6 weeks of training beating him up to reach 15.07, or we could look at his profile and , likely, he neds work on his speed or his strength, so there's more 'bang for your buck" in switching focuses for him.

Conversely, if he runs a 15.05 before breaking for Xmas but returns with a 14.05 after the break, its likely he doesn't need too much more aerobic base but he's obviously skipped out on training over the break, so he can spend a few weeks in "aerobic hell" to send a message. 

In the gym, strength development is key and I would be starting every session with some dedicated acceleration work with adequate rest periods where you can use stationary skill drills to pad this out.  

Again you'll run the same tests as you did before breaking for Xmas and hopefully there's been improvement and entering the pre-competition phase you can throw most of the structured runs away.

The pre-competition phase is the time to focus on match simulated drills as conditioning and again, you can manipulate grid dimensions, team size and rules to get some overload.

In the gym you want to be training rate of force development and even using medicine balls, sleds and resisted running at the beginning of your footy training session sis a good way to bridge the gap from the gym to the field.

I also like to use wrestling and grappling drills to get them ready for contact.

MY SUMMARY

- If speed is king, then repeat speed is the queen but without actual speed then what are you repeating? This means that you need to look at your training early to see what you need to get from point a to point b, then what you need after that to get from point b to point c and so on. You'll never just turn up and already have points a, b and c under your belt from sinking beers.

- Running with the balls is fine but again, you need to be able to break down what you need to make this work your players. So you might have some players that can do a huge volume of running and they seem everywhere in ball drills but if their skills are still lacking then is all the running and fatigue work really helping them? 

- Testing is great for keeping players accountable but also make sure that you have a training plan for improving whatever testing you want improved or the testing is completely useless. I'll do a blog on testing too very soon.

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Female Footballer Case Study in Acceleration - 6 to 7% Improvement From Session to Session

A few weeks ago I detailed a training session with a bloke from the same club as I, South Yarra, in regards to improving acceleration speed.

This week we'll take a look at Anna Moz and what she's managed to achieve already in her short time training with me.

Coming off an illness we did some sprints at Gosch's Paddock after some skill work which we timed - I always time!

This is only her 2nd session too by the way.

VIDEO 1 - 20m Sprint from a 4 Point Start

5m Acceleration 1.38secs

10m Acceleration x 2.41secs (beating 2.58 from first session)

15m Acceleration x 3.30secs

20m Acceleration x 4.11secs

VIDEO 2 - 20m Sprint from a Standing Start

10m x 2.41secs

15m x 3.30secs

20m x 4.04secs (baseline time from now on)

VIDEO 3 - 20m Fly Sprint

20m Fly x 3.09secs

5m Fly x .65secs (10 - 15m zone)

10m Fly x 1.47secs (5 - 15m zone)

15m Fly x 2.24secs (0 - 15m zone)

With 2 weeks left before heading back to pre-season training with the Darebin Falcons where she'll continue to train with me, we're doing a 2 week block dedicated entirely to speed where we'll hopefully fit in 6 speed sessions and get as much quality work in as we can and hopefully knock some seconds off these times!

If you're a female footballer who wants to take your game to new levels then fill in this application form and I'll get back to you shortly. There are online and in-person training options.

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Local Footy Training GEMS from AFL/TAC S&C Coaches Burgo and Matty Part 1/9

You might recall I put some feelers out for footy training questions that could be answered by Port Adelaide S&C Coach Darren Burgess, who I've interviewed before.

I wanted to see what sort of training information was wanted and needed by L/A footballers of all grades, and I received plenty of responses.

In the end I had to categorise them all, then mix them together to make 1 "super question"!

I also shot them through to Matt Glossop, TAC S&C Coach at the Murray Bushrangers, to get a slightly different view. Matty also still plays L/A footy in the North East when the Bushrangers schedule allows him to and he's also been featured on this blog before.

I'll be posting the questions in separate blog posts so be sure to check back over the next week or 2 as there are 9 or 10 parts to this so it;s not 1 huge block of text.

Q1 - FOR LOCAL/AMATEUR FOOTBALL, AS YOU DROP DOWN IN GRADES OF FOOTY, HOW DO YOU THINK STRENGTH, SPEED.AND ENDURANCE REQUIREMENTS CHANGE?

                                                        

BURGO - I think there will always be a requirement for all those aspects but as you drop down levels of footy I think skill becomes more relevant because strength, speed and endurance deteriorate with fatigue.

                                                     

MATTY - In the North East of Victoria we have a couple of 2nd tier type leagues but 1 is played on bigger grounds with flat surfaces and the other on smaller, boggier grounds. So while both leagues have a high standard of footy, the type of footy (outside + running v inside + contested) and thus the requirements to play each style of footy (max velocity speed + repeat speed v acceleration speed + body contact), are very different.

A lot of athletes are genetically gifted in a certain strength/speed quality (speed, endurance, strength etc) and at the L/A level most can get away with just that, but as you move up levels of footy you need more and more tricks in your arsenal.

There are many L/A players with endurance levels comparable to AFL players but AFL players have far superior speed and/or strength levels.

Personally I think speed is king and if you possess superior speed then you have a chance at any level.

From a technical standpoint, tackling (both being the tackler and you being tackled but also being able to dispose of the ball effectively) is a huge jump as you go up levels as well.

MY SUMMARY

- Skills win out above all else. GPS readings have show that teams that have superior skill levels perform much less work then teams with lesser skill levels. This means that less fatigue is induced throughout a game so you're are able to maintain greater levels of speed, strength and endurance which also feeds better decision making which all adds up to superior skill levels.

- If you have a proven strength in regards to skill, speed, endurance etc then at the L/A level you're number 1 goal is to keep it at a very high level at the very least. Coaches also need to recognise this and allow individual training time to do this and also not to train them the complete opposite way too often. On the other hand trying to improve something you're already extremely proficient in can result in a lot of hard work for little reward. When bringing up your weaknesses you need to do a needs analysis to determine what you need to bring up the most. For example if you you're a small forward picking balls off packs like Eddie Betts then do you need to spend 8 weeks trying to increase your vertical leap? Probably not. It would be great to be able to jump higher but how much will it improve your game in the long run versus getting faster or training repeat the superior speed you already have?

- Coaches need to develop game plans and thus training plans around their personnel and the ground they'll play on, preferably your home ground. If you can win most of your home games then you're almost finals bound right there.

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Why Your L/A Men's Footy Team Should Train Like AFL Women's Teams Do

Not that I'm not always thinking about optimising training methods for footy, but I really did like the extremely efficient way the Collingwood coaches trained their women the past couple of Fridays I've been down there.

In a 2 hour session they train A LOT more training qualities then L/A men's teams do, even though they are using a shorter build up, and I'd also suggest that most players are coming from a lot further back then 95% of LA men's teams too.

Along with getting their stars up to elite fitness levels, they also are training up girls who have never even played a game of footy before in regards to the skill and physical requirements of AFL football.

Just think back to those training nights where a bloke has turned up from nowhere, having never played footy before, and how bad he was on the training track. He tried his guts out but didn't really make great strides throughout the year, making the same mistakes from lack of skill and lack of "game" knowledge.

This is potentially what the AFLW teams are dealing with to various degrees.

When you're training, your goal should always to get the most from the least and to use the minimum effective dose but unfortunately in L/A footy circles this a ridiculously foreign concept.

The mantra of how much you can do still rules the day at most LA footy clubs but this is seriously flawed.

Seeing how much you can do will ALWAYS result in decreased performance because of the fatigue factor. The longer you try and go at 100%, the faster you'll fatigue, and the more decrease in performance you'll see.

Let's use a few examples:

#1 - You have the a midfielder who can win the ball at will and is a competitive beast. He works himself into the ground every training session and every game but his kicking lets him down regularly. Essentially all his hard work, which is plenty, is undone by his poor skill level. He definitely needs some no-fatigued, specific skill work because he goes so hard everything he does is under fatigue, and fatigue blunts high performance. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

#2 - It's January and time to get "some run in the legs" (where else does it go?) so it's time to do some 400's, and the team heads off together and/or ins small groups. You've got the workhorse from the first example leading the way and lets say he completes his 4 sets of 400's in 60, 65, 68 and 72secs. He was able to maintain something close to the speed of his first set with a drop of less then 20% in times from set 1 to set 4. Not too bad at the L/A level.

You've also got Joe who is the speedster of the team and an explosive machine. For his 4 x 400m he clocks in at 70, 80, 90, 100secs which is a 30% drop in times from set 1 to set 4. Not great, but also look at his absolute time compared to workhourse - 60 to 70secs in the work horses favor. You're basically running the speed out of poor Joe, and thus not being very efficient with his 4hrs of training time a week.

To add to Joe's woes, he WILL NOT recover from these 400's during the actual training session and everything else performed afterwards is compromised. His speed will be decreased and his skill level will drop so what is he really training now? His training how to be slow with bad skills!

Here's a look at what the Collingwood Women did and how you can use what they did to streamline your training whether you're a player or a coach.

SKILLS
- 10mins of partner skill work like most teams do except the weekend chit-chatter and 10m kick on your good foot were replaced by loud voices and opposite side disposal for the most part
- Later on skills were trained within game simulation and under fatigue through the use of small sided games

WARM UP
- Everyone performs the same warm up which again cuts down time as a format to follow always works quicker then thinking it up on the spot. I do our teams warm ups and always provide 30 - 60secs to stretch out what they want to so there's not blokes hanging off to the side doing their own thing when it's "team time." If you have your won stuff you want to do then do it in your own time.

RUNNING WARM UP
- I bet your team does a lap or 2 at the very start of the session yeah? Not this team - not 1 lap for the entire session! After floor based stretches that move into standing dynamic drills, the ladies went into a simple running drill that gradually increased in pace and distance. It would have taken as long as the 1 - 2 laps you currently do but emphasised far more aspects and specifics of the running action (sprinting mechanics, change of direction, eccentric control to name a few) then that shitty couple of laps with low knee lift going around in circles. The more intensive running also helps to get your players focused on training quicker as well.

SPEED / AGILITY
- With the team broken into 2 groups (every L/A team should be doing this with potentially 50+ players on the track at this time of the year), half does some resisted sprinting work for speed while the other group does some agility cone work and then they switch. Training efficiency is increased by 50% right there with the 2 groups.

TEAM DRILLS
- No cones to cone drill here - just game simulation. Everything from here out is high intensity through the use of small sided games which allows you to train not only game specific conditioning and skills under game type pressure, but most importantly decision making - and decision making under fatigue.

I understand that as L/A teams you will need some drills using he cone to cone action but I suggest implementing chaos games as soon as you can and maybe again splitting the groups up into cone to cone and chaos groups with your starts and regular trainers in the chaos group, and the January/February flyers in the cone to cone group then slowly introduce them to the chaos group until mid Feb when everything is specifically game simulated.

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Aussie Rules Training Inner Sanctum

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AFLW is Here - First Practice Game

Yesterday was the very first AFLW practice game between the Fremantle Dockers and the Adelaide Crows all the way up in Darwin.

The game was streamed live on Youtube yesterday and I got up and watched it this morning.

Here's what I thought was note worthy:

- The Freo girls laid some big tackles and not many of them get broken which will be a huge asset.

- Adelaide looked like they wanted to play a handball game which will require a lot of hard running with only 16 players on the field per team.

- Disposal mistakes will also be far more costly when playing the running game with the less players as you'll have less players back.

- Freo ran hard early but seemed to tire in the 2nd quarter.

- Then both teams seem to tire in the 2nd half of the 2nd quarter which was to be expected.

- It is worth noting that the Crows are a amalgamation of South Australian and Northern Territory girls who have mostly trained separately except for the whole 2 times they've been together as a team, with  of those times the day before the game.

- For some reason they played 20min quarters even though the proper season will roll with 15mins + time on which also affects player fatigue.

- There was a fair bit of cutting the ground in half for both teams at various times which again with less players, will be seen a lot of the AFLW season proper it seems as it's harder to run it out with no  all your players in the back 50 or close to.

- Adelaide must have taken a good 5 - 6 high, pack mark which was great to see.

- Across the board Freo had the better skill level and decision making but again the Crows haven't really played together before which definitely affects decision making and thus skill level off the back of that.

If you'd like to check the game out you can watch it in full below:

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Coaches, You Can't Train Everyone the Same - Here's Why...

We've all got those jets at our footy club, they just have speed to burn and not just speed at a lower level, but speed that would be an asset at higher levels of footy where everyone is relatively quick.

There is a jet at my club, bleeds for the club, is the major sponsor now even, who fits this bill. He's ran an 11sec flat 100m with absolutely no training for speed, it's all natural.

And in his arse. His giant arse!

Off topic quickly, a former CEO named Jack Welch has a book called Winning where he talks about the typical breakdown of employees. You have your top 20% who are your stars, your middle 70% who are your workhorses and your lowest 10% who are your bottom feeders.

I bet you've heard the footy phrase "you're only as good as your bottom 6" and this is along those lines.

Now most people will look at it and think that focusing on your stars is the way to get better but you've all those workhorses who turn up week in and week out, and with enough resources thrown at them they can too become stars, potentially doubling your top end talent. It's a lot easier, and cheaper as L/A footy clubs to build your own starts then find them on the open market.

The 70% is where your potential stars are, and they're right under your nose right now, and it's actually most of your teams success comes from.

Getting back to our stars/jets, they to need something different. They possess a certain quality that sets them apart and is crucial that you continue to develop it, maintain it, or let them express it on a consistent basis.

Generally speed is what sets them apart so you need to make sure there is training time set aside for them to do this.

Doing too much "workhorse" training with them can "run the speed right out of them" and now they are just another workhorse.

Within your playing group you;re also going to get some different cats, at L/A footy level this is just a fact of life you need to get used to and not everyone will fall into line the exact same way we want them to when they are not getting paid to do so.

There is something called the Braverman Test that can help you determine what type of athlete you are based on neurotransmitter type.

Dopamine based athletes will have lots of energy they get stuff done, they can handle and display great intensity but overall training volume can decrease their output drastically. My mate from above is this to a tee.

Acetylcholine based athletes possess great creativity and will respond best to variations in training load. They also like to problem solve so discovery based training is big for them.

Gaba based athletes love consistency and the process of it all. They can sustain greater training loads for extended periods of time but they can't reach the intensity levels of the dopamine athlete.

Seretonin based athletes are you sit back, relax and enjoy life types which we all again, have at our footy clubs.

You add up all the true responses to the 4 sections and here what my results were:

Dopmaine - 22
Acetylcholine - 23
Gaba - 36
Serotonin - 25

As you can see I fit the Gaba mold which is almost 50% of the population - so much for being unique!

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